Bullets and Drowning
by Tango Eight
Summary: Tony is hurt while saving Gibbs and Maddie during the episode Requiem.
1. Run!

Run!

That was all special agent Anthony DiNozzo could think about doing. He had just seen his boss and a young girl drive into the river to escape a shoot out.

Tony saw it all happen from behind a fence not 100 yards away but was virtually powerless to stop the shooting and his boss's idea of a quick get-away, into the river with his deceased daughter's friend who had come to represent that daughter who had been murdered along with Gibbs' first wife Sharon only a short fifteen years before.

Just a few days earlier, Kelly's friend Maddie came to NCIS looking for Gibbs' help. Things went way worse then anybody expected and now Gibbs and Maddie were taking a swim in a car at the bottom of the lake to escape a massive firefight.

As soon as the car disappeared under the water, Tony was making a mad dash though the warehouse to get to the water to save his boss and Maddie.

There were still the two shooters at the back entrance of the warehouse with semi-automatic weapons. When the two men saw Tony running at them they quickly fired a few shots in an attempt to stop him.

Tony could feel the wind from each bullet as they soared passed him as he ran, all of them too close to hitting their mark.

Tony managed to fire a couple rounds from his own weapon, hitting one of the men in the heart, killing him instantly.

He was running fast gaining on the second man. He was just moving his arm so that his gun was pointing at the second man when the shooter sent off another round of bullets in Tony's direction.

Tony felt two of the bullets rip through his body. He could tell one of them hit him on his abdomen, right under the ribcage, while the other hit him on his chest, towards his right shoulder.

Even though the pain was intense and he was bleeding badly, he knew he had to keep going. Gibbs and Maddie were counting on him. He was able to ignore the pain in his shoulder and abdomen enough to pull the trigger twice, double tap to the heart.

Once the danger on land was taken care of he threw his gun to the side, the pain like a fire in inside him and blood lose draining his energy fast, he lunged off of the dock into the freezing water.


	2. In the water!

Hi everybody! Thank you for the reviews. Here is the second chapter, I hope you like it! Also in my first chapter I said that Gibbs' first wife's name was Sharon and it was brought to my attention that it is actually Shannon. Oops! Anyway, I hope this chapter is ok and please, please, please review!

As soon as Tony was in the water the first thing he noticed was how cold it was. He didn't think he had ever been in water so cold, at least he _hoped _it was the water. He couldn't be going into shock already.

He had to push aside his own injuries and the pain they caused for the moment, he would deal with them after he got to that car and successfully saved Gibbs and Maddie.

His bleeding body was making this nearly impossible, not to mention, quite painful. However, the low temperature of the water was thankfully numbing him enough so he wasn't completely distracted from what he needed to do.

He was able to swim down to the car and noticed it wasn't completely filled with water yet.

Maddie must have hit her head, though, when they hit the water because she was unconscious.

Gibbs was conscious and holding Maddie's head out of the quickly rising water.

The water was almost past his nose and mouth, Tony knew this meant nobody would be able to breath soon, he had to get them out of the car and up to shore and fast.

Gibbs was trying to get the windshield to break, but it wouldn't budge. That was when he noticed Tony swimming towards the car. The other thing he did not fail to notice was the water around Tony turning red.

Tony took one look at the windshield and then looked at his boss, ignoring the questioning look he received there.

_I'm going to have to talk to him about that later. Give him a good head slap too. _Gibbs thought as the water rose past his nose and mouth making them all have to hold their breaths.

Tony somehow found the strength in his weakening body to pull the windshield away from the car. Gibbs tried to get the seatbelt up so he could get out of the car but his legs were stuck.

Gibbs looked at Tony for less then a second but Tony nodded, understanding what his boss meant he turned his attention to Maddie who was still unconscious.

Tony and Gibbs were able to maneuver her out of the windshield; Tony then hooked his arm around hers and began the swim back up to shore.

When he finally reached the surface his lungs were burning from the exertion and lack of oxygen. It felt like he had been under the water for hours when in reality it had only been a minute or two.

Once he finally broke the surface he took a huge lung full of the much need oxygen his injured body so desperately needed. He swam with the motionless girl to the edge of the dock.

He managed to push her up onto it and then hoisted himself up as well, unable to stifle the gasp of pain as the movement pulled on his injuries.

His vision was starting to go gray around the edges, adrenaline the only thing keeping him going.

Maddie wasn't moving at all and when he put his ear down next to her mouth he heard no breath sounds, He felt her neck and could hardly get a pulse so he immediately began CPR.

After about ten seconds of chest compressions he went down to give her rescue breaths. As soon as he was done filling her lungs with his own breath she gasped and started to choke up the water she had swallowed.

He felt her neck again and felt a slow but steady beat beneath his fingers. Content with her condition for the moment he quickly stood up and nearly passed out.

"DiNozzo's do not pass out!" he said aloud, pushing aside the vertigo threatening his consciousness, his boss was still down there.

"Don't worry boss, I'm coming." He said as he took in another breath before jumping back into the water.

So that was the end of chapter 2, I hope you liked it. Chapter 3 should be up soon!

_Please review!_


	3. Back in the water!

Thanks again for the reviews! It definitely makes writing a lot easier. Sorry the chapters are so short. Hopefully later on in the story they will be longer. Enjoy!

The second time wasn't as bad as the first time he had jumped into the freezing water in the sense that he knew what to expect.

It was worse for the fact that he was becoming increasingly weaker. He hoped the adrenaline could keep him focused long enough to finish this seemingly impossible task so that the outcome would be a good one for at least Maddie and Gibbs, even if it didn't turn out so well for himself.

He made it to the car for the second time and noticed Gibbs was now unconscious, a state Tony felt himself slipping into himself.

With the last reserve of strength he had, Tony was able to pry the steering wheel off of Gibbs legs and pull him out of the car through the windshield.

He swam with Gibbs in the very same way he did with Maddie only a moment earlier, the only difference was the weight difference between the two. He swam with a sense of relief this time though because he knew nobody else was in the car.

He broke the surface again and took in only half the breath he needed. His lungs felt slightly constricted.

_That's not good, _he thought_._ He hoped it was only from exertion and not a more serious reason such as pneumonia which was a very realistic possibility considering his very rare medical history.

He got to the dock and noticed Maddie waiting for them by the edge. She helped Tony drag Gibbs onto the dock.

Tony got onto the dock too; Maddie had noticed the increasing red stain that was turning his previously white shirt into a more crimson color.

Maddie helped Tony up and immediately asked, "Are you ok?" He obviously wasn't but they knew Gibbs was worse for the moment so he said, "I'm fine, just help him!" in a breathless reply.

She knew he was lying but she saw Gibbs lying motionless and deathly pale on the ground only a few feet away, and started CPR on him immediately.

Tony was becoming increasingly colder as the adrenaline was starting to fade and shock was setting in. His vision was becoming darker and more limited but he had to make sure he didn't pass out long enough to make sure everybody else was ok.

He could see Maddie desperately trying to beat the water out of Gibbs lungs and could see her saying something to him but everything seemed so far away.

He could hear sirens in the distance but couldn't figure out who had called for them.

All of a sudden he couldn't hold onto the minuscule grasp he had on reality any longer and he slipped into a deep state of unconsciousness from which he feared he would never wake up.

_Thank you for reading this chapter, I hope this one was ok too. I am working on chapter four and it should be up as soon as it is finished. _

_Please review!_


	4. Hold on!

Sorry for the wait, I had been in Ohio since Wednesday and couldn't get to a computer.

Thank you for the reviews, they are very nice to get! The good news about not having updated my story in a while is I had plenty of time to write. Anyways, here is chapter 4. Happy Reading!

Warning: I am not a doctor so medical stuff may not be 100% correct.

Tony was painfully aware of two things; the first thing was two strong hands, one pressing down hard on his abdomen and the other keeping the same amount of pressure on his shoulder.

The second thing was, from what he could tell, were two people yelling painfully loud right above his head.

Several questions were swirling around his foggy brain at this point; he was trying really hard to remember what had happened. He knew it was important but he couldn't place the feeling that he was forgetting something. He also couldn't remember why he hurt so badly. There was the distinct sound of ambulance sirens in the background.

Then it hit him, he remembered seeing Gibbs and Maddie run to the car, watched as they drove backwards straight into the river. He remembered running through the warehouse and the staggering pain that followed after the force of two bullets hitting him nearly knocked him off his feet. He remembered jumping into the water after he killed the two men and saving Maddie and then Gibbs from the car, then there was nothing, just darkness that followed.

That's when he realized he didn't even know if Gibbs was alive or not.

He managed to open his eyes a crack and everything that had caused him pain and discomfort in the darkness intensified once the bright lights in the ambulance hit him all at once when he opened his eyes.

He could see two paramedics working over him; neither had noticed when he regained consciousness. He could hear a loud beeping noise in the background beeping far to quickly to be any kind of comfort.

The paramedics finally noticed he was awake and began to ask him questions he couldn't hear. Their voices finally started to become comprehendible but only a few words made themselves known.

"Agent…ozzo…stay…us! Do…know…where…are?"

Tony tried to answer but couldn't find his voice so he weakly nodded his head. The paramedic, who for some reason Tony noticed had blond hair, nodded his head, satisfied with the response, and then went back to work.

Something was still bothering Tony but he felt so weak; he still could not speak to get their attention.

He resorted to lifting one of his arms, pulling on the IV that had been in to give him some pain relief and to start replacing some of the blood he had lost. He grimaced slightly at the uncomfortable feeling.

The paramedic with the blond hair noticed the movement and brought his attention back to Tony's troubled expression. Tony tried to speak for several seconds before finally managing to form the word.

"G-Gibbs?" He finally managed.

The blond haired man knew what he was asking, the severely injured NCIS agent was asking him if his boss was alive or not.

That was when Tony noticed somebody holding onto his forearm in a slightly weaker, but familiar, vice like grip.

"Don't worry Agent DiNozzo," The paramedic told him, "he's right here." He said motioning with his eyes towards where Gibbs was sitting.

Tony would have sighed with relief if he hadn't been so weak as he turned his head slightly to see his boss sitting right there next to him. Tony noticed he was still too pale but at least he was breathing unlike the condition he had seen him in the last time he had actually seen him.

"He refused to go in his own ambulance, insisted on going with you no matter what." The paramedic informed with a slight smile, neither Gibbs nor Tony failed to notice both of the paramedics started working a little bit faster as the heart monitor began beeping a little bit more erratically.

Tony was relieved to see his boss was relatively ok but as the pain took hold of him again couldn't hide the grimace of pain as he squeezed his eyes closed to try to fend off the growing pain, dizziness, and nausea.

He suddenly felt something he feared he would never feel again. He felt his boss tap him slightly on the back of the head. He opened his eyes slightly to see Gibbs leaning towards him like he was going to tell him something quietly in his ear. Something about the situation felt oddly familiar, he immediately had a flash back to only a few years before when his boss was doing the same thing when he was under those blue lights fighting off the pneumonic plague.

That was when he heard it, the exact words he had been told only a few short years back.

"Tony, you listening to me?" Tony nodded. "You will not die, ya got that?" Tony tried to reply to Gibbs to tell him of course he was going to be ok, just like last time, but his vision suddenly blurred and everything started to fade to black. _Just like at the end of that movie…_Was Tony's last thought as he succumbed to the darkness.

He could hear people shouting and through all of the commotion he could hear his boss's voice yelling, "Hold on Tony, you will NOT die!" Followed by the long, endless beep of a heart no longer beating.

Sorry for yet another cliffhanger ending. I know, I am slightly evil, but wait…there will be more so just be patient. This was chapter four so chapter five will be here soon. Please comment if you loved it, hated it, or don't care either way. All comments are greatly appreciated so, please, keep them coming!


	5. Waiting!

Thanks to those who commented, and to those who have simply taken the time to read this story, it means a lot to me! Hope you like this chapter also!

Warning: I am not a doctor so the medical stuff may not be 100% correct.

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Gibbs and Tony

It had been three hours, Gibbs noted impatiently as he paced the small waiting area.

Three hours since he and Maddie were in that car at the bottom of the river. Maddie had been unconscious when the water stared pouring into the car. Gibbs' only thoughts were to keep her alive long enough for them to be rescued, if they even were going to be rescued. He hadn't even known if anybody on his team even knew where he was.

Then he saw him, the person who had been on his team, who Gibbs practically considered his son. Not that he would ever admit that to anyone.

Maybe he should have, he may never get that chance now, Gibbs thought solemnly.

At first seeing Tony gave him great hope until he noticed the color of the water around Tony. The water was turning red.

_That could only mean one thing_, Gibbs thought as the water rose dramatically and he had to hold his breath, _I'm going to have to talk to him about that later. Give him a good head slap too._

Tony looked at him for a moment and then proceeded to somehow detach the windshield from the car.

Once he realized his legs were stuck, he turned all of his focus on Maddie. Working together they managed to get her out of the car.

As he watched Tony swim up to the surface with the girl, Gibbs realized he must have hit his head as well because his vision was blacking out. His last conscious thought was that he hoped Tony and Maddie would be ok.

The next thing he knew he was coughing up water on dry land, Maddie leaning over him begging him to breath. Once he had coughed up all the water in his lungs he remembered something very important.

"Tony!" he gasped as he turned his head and saw Tony laying a few feet away behind Maddie completely motionless except the slight rise and fall of his injured chest. A puddle of blood was forming underneath him.

Completely forgetting about his burning lungs he got up and moved over to his fallen agent. The first thing he noticed was how deathly pale he was. He immediately put a shaky hand over each of Tony's wounds and pressed down hard, he'd already lost so much blood.

He could hear sirens coming their way and like Tony had only a few moments earlier, he wondered who had called them. He didn't even notice when Ziva and McGee arrived and ran over to the three figured kneeling, or laying in Tony's case, down on the ground.

They had both been running but stopped dead in their tracks when they were close enough to see the scene in front of them.

Three pale, wet, cold looking people, one of them their boss and another their partner and friend fighting for his life in a puddle of his own blood, on the ground in front of them.

The paramedics soon arrived and rushed over to where Tony was and immediately began loading him on a stretcher. Gibbs hadn't even noticed they arrived until they started moving Tony towards the ambulance. He instantly got up to follow them. Tony had just saved his life, there was no way he was going to let him be alone now. A paramedic with dark brown hair tried to stop him.

"Please sir, you must go in the next ambulance." The young man insisted.

"Like hell I am." Gibbs replied shortly, " I'm going to go with him." Gibbs said pointing to the stretcher with the badly wounded agent on it.

Knowing the agent on the stretcher was fading fast; he had no time to argue. Just as they were closing the ambulance doors Gibbs jumped on as they sped away to the hospital.

Ziva and McGee

Ziva and McGee couldn't believe what had happened. They had known that something was going on when they couldn't get a hold of Gibbs. Tony especially knew something was "hinkey" as their forensic scientist Abby Sciuto would say. They had figured out where that Gibbs was going to the docks but Tony had gotten ahead of them. Once Ziva and McGee got there Tony, Gibbs, and Maddie were no where to be seen.

They found a security room that had several small screens with feed from security cameras on them. They finally found the one they were looking for. They watched as Gibbs and Maddie ran to the car in a hail of gunfire. They watched as the car drove backwards straight into the water. They watched as Tony went running through the warehouse shooting at the men killing one of them. They saw him falter as two bullets ripped through his body but he kept on running. He killed the man without a second's hesitation and jumped in the water. At this point they knew they needed to go help their teammates instead of just sitting around doing nothing, they figured it would take a few minutes for them to reach the docks anyhow so they better start moving. As they left the security room Ziva whipped out her cell phone to call 911.

Maddie was still sitting on the ground in shock at what had just happened in less then five minutes. She couldn't believe that somebody could be dying because of her.

McGee went over and kneeled down next to the shivering girl and draped his jacket around her shoulders as they waited for the second ambulance to arrive.

Ziva also seemed to be in shock after seeing her partner, practically dead on the ground. She didn't even want to think about that so decided to take a look around the warehouse.

Ziva noticed the two dead men and several feet away, the start of a blood trail, which she followed to the river.

She then looked at the puddle of blood. Tony's blood. She couldn't look away from it. That was when the second ambulance arrived.

Gibbs and Tony

It had only been five minutes into the ambulance ride, Gibbs was holding onto Tony's arm as the paramedics worked over him. The heart monitor was beeping very quickly and he knew the very rarely meant a good thing.

He heard one of the paramedics say if his oxygen levels dropped any lower they would need to put him on a respirator. That was when the blond haired man noticed Tony had regained consciousness.

Gibbs looked at Tony's face and could see glassy, half open eyes staring up at the paramedic in obvious confusion.

"Agent DiNozzo, stay with us! Do you know where you are?" Gibbs saw the slight nod of Tony's head and felt relief that his agent was able to answer, even if it was only a small movement, it was better then the alternative.

Gibbs saw something change in Tony's expression; he looked worried. Tony lifted the opposite arm to the one Gibbs was holding onto to reassure the young agent, the arm with an IV in it. Gibbs watched as Tony grimaced slightly as the movement pulled on the IV.

The paramedic also noticed and looked back at the unfocused green eyes staring up at him with such confusion. It was obvious that the man in front of them was struggling just to speak but after a few moments he finally got control of his voice and said just one word.

"G-Gibbs?" The blond haired man nodded towards Gibbs "Don't worry Agent DiNozzo, he's right here."

Gibbs noticed Tony turn his head in the direction the paramedic had pointed to and could see the look of relief that washed across his face as he finally saw his boss, alive.

"He refused to go in his own ambulance, insisted on going with you no matter what." The blond haired paramedic informed Tony.

Just then the heart monitor started beeping more erratically and the two men started working a little bit faster.

Gibbs saw pain wash across his agents face as Tony screwed his eyes tightly shut against the obvious agony he was feeling. Gibbs knew the pain was taking him and did the only thing he knew of that had worked in the past. He leaned over and lightly tapped the injured man on the back of the head. Gibbs leaned forward so he was whispering right in his ear.

"Tony, you listening to me?" Tony nodded, it seemed to be working Gibbs thought, "You will not die, ya got that?" He waited for the reply again but Tony's eyes glazed over as the heart monitor began beeping rapidly. The commotion in the background was completely forgotten as he stared in shock at the lifeless green eyes. As they pulled into the ambulance bay at Bethesda Gibbs tried one more time to command his agent to live.

"Hold on Tony, you will NOT die!" The heart monitor then faltered and began a long flat line that meant Tony's heart was no longer beating.

That had been three hours ago. As soon as Tony flat lined the paramedics had to shock his heart three times with the defibrillator paddles before they got the unstable rhythm back. They immediately rushed Tony into the ER.

Gibbs hated seeing them shock Tony even if it was to save his life. Every time they yelled, "Clear!" there would be a thud and Tony's body would jerk in response to the shock. Gibbs found himself flinching every time this happened. Then there was a heartbeat.

As soon as they brought him into the emergency room they red flagged him to the OR to perform emergency surgery.

It had been three hours since they had checked Gibbs and cleared him to not have to be admitted. He went straight to the waiting area.

About five minutes after he had begun his long wait for news on Tony, the second ambulance with Maddie arrived followed closely by Ziva in the company car. McGee had ridden with Maddie in the ambulance so she wouldn't have to be alone; she looked terrified. A few minutes later she too was cleared to not have to be admitted. The ER doctor convinced her to go home and get some rest. Gibbs told her he would call to check up on her and update her on Tony's condition as soon as they knew anything.

After Maddie left McGee called Abby who immediately burst into tears. She told Ducky and they arrived less then a half an hour later.

Now, three hours later, Gibbs was pacing the floor of the waiting room. McGee was sitting on one of the uncomfortable chairs looking pale and terrified. Ducky was looking down at the floor with a melancholy look on his face holding onto a crying Abby, and Ziva was sitting in the chair next to McGee with a look of complete shock and disbelief on her face.

This was how they stayed for the next hour as they waited for anybody to come and tell them how Tony was doing.

Finally the waiting room doors opened and a doctor appeared wearing light green scrubs. None of them had failed to notice the blood that stained them. As soon as the doors opened they all stood up and Gibbs stopped pacing.

"Are you all here for Agent DiNozzo?" the doctor asked.

"Yes, we are." Ducky answered for the group. " How is young Anthony doing?" Dr. Mallard asked the question that was on everybody's mind.

"Well," the young doctor started, " I have some good news and some bad news."

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All right, that is chapter five; I hope you liked it. I figured since all of my chapters had been really, really short I would write a long one this time. I know, I left you with another cliffhanger! Thank you for taking the time to read this and please, please, please review! Thank you!


	6. News!

It's been like a week since the last time I updated this story; life has been crazy lately (in a good way!) so I really haven't had that much time to write. I don't know how this chapter will be but this is what I got so here it goes. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, read, favorited, or alerted this story! Also, I am not a doctor so the medical stuff my not be one hundred percent correct.

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"I have some good news and some bad news."

The three federal agents, the medical examiner, and the forensic scientist all looked at the doctor impatiently waiting for him to give them the news.

"The good news is; he's alive." relief instantly replaced impatience the moment they heard Tony was still among the living.

"What's the bad news?" Gibbs asked the doctor, secretly terrified at what he might hear next.

"The bad news is; he is not staying alive by himself. We currently have him on a respirator. He went into respiratory arrest when he was being prepped for surgery. We tried everything we could to get him breathing on his own but we were unsuccessful so before there was any brain damage, we made the decision to put him on the respirator. In my professional opinion, I believe the respiratory arrest was caused by his lungs having been in the freezing water coupled by the strain his body was going through due to the gunshot wounds he had just received and the rapid blood loss that can only be expected from said gunshot wounds.

Another thing that is good news is if he recovers he should recover completely with minimal long-term affects."

Gibbs didn't like the sound of the last part of the doctors' explanation at all.

"If he recovers?" Gibbs asked with a glare.

"Agent Gibbs, Agent DiNozzo received two serious gunshot wounds. He lost fifty-three percent of his blood volume before he even made it to the hospital. He also has a slight case of pneumonia because of the cold water and his lungs that were badly scarred from his experience with pneumonic plague. Agent DiNozzo is a very strong young man and we believe he should make a full recovery but the next 24 hours are crucial.

His heart stopped once in the in the ambulance as you are well aware of Agent Gibbs, as you also know they were able to get it started again. When we were prepping him for surgery he went into respiratory arrest, and then we lost him again on the table. We were successful in bringing him back that time too." The doctor paused a moment to see the groups reactions to this before he continued.

"The first bullet hit his shoulder, it went all the way through and we were able to repair the nerve and muscle damage so there should be no weakness in the arm. The second gunshot wound did quite a bit more damage. The second bullet hit him on his abdomen just under his ribcage. When he was shot it did not hit any vital organs but it stayed inside of him, which can be quite dangerous. Since it stayed inside his abdomen when he had to continue moving it migrated and lodged itself in his spleen. The was severe damage to the organ and we had to remove it."

Abby gasped and started sobbing after hearing all of that, Gibbs paled even further as well.

"We have a considerable amount of confidence in his strength and will to live from when he had the plague, so as long as he makes it through the next 24 hours he should make a full recovery."

"Can we go see him?" Abby asked hopefully.

"He still hasn't regained consciousness so maybe only one of you for now." The doctor said with a small smile to this group who obviously cared deeply for his patient.

"Tell him we love him, Gibbs." Abby said with a smile that was backed up with three other smiles behind her.

"Will do, Abbs." Gibbs followed the doctor up to the ICU. When they got there the doctor pointed to one of the rooms.

"By the way, my name is Dr. Stone, if you need anything just call." Dr. Stone paused for a second and then added, "Also, Dr. Pitt should be here soon to check up on Tony."

Gibbs thanked him and Dr. Stone walked away. Gibbs stopped at the door suddenly overwhelmed with a feeling of guilt. If it hadn't been for his inability to handle the situation, Tony wouldn't be here now fighting for his life.

He finally pushed the guilt aside, the need to see Tony alive overpowering any other feelings he may be having at the moment.

He pushed the door open and walked into the room. As soon as he saw Tony the guilt returned much stronger then it had before. Tony was laying flat on his back completely motionless except for the mechanical rise and fall of his chest due to the respirator. His face was ghostly pale and he had tubes and wires connected all over him to various machines. His right arm had the most tubes attached. He had various IVs giving him antibiotics, fluids, and the much-needed blood replacing all he had lost.

Since there was a thin blanket and a hospital gown covering most of his body, Gibbs couldn't even see his injuries. He walked over and put a hand on Tony's forehead, feeling heat radiate from there. He figured the fever was just from the pneumonia and not from an infection so he didn't let it bother him too much.

"You better not die, DiNozzo." Gibbs ordered, "You don't have my permission yet."

Gibbs found a chair in the corner of the room and dragged it over to the bed. He sat down and closed his eyes. Worrying about Maddie and now Tony and then almost drowning had completely wiped him out. He soon fell asleep to the slow beep that came from Tony's heart monitor.

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Chapter 7 should soon be ready! Please, please, please review no matter what you thought of this chapter! Thanks again!


	7. Painful Awakenings!

I apologize for the long waits between chapters. I have been extremely busy and have had very little time to write. I am trying to fix that though because I know how much I don't like having to wait extended periods of time between chapters of other people's stories sometimes. Anyway, here is chapter seven, hope you all like it. Also, I don't own NCIS or the characters, CBS does. Last thing, I am not a doctor so the medical stuff may not always be one hundred percent correct.

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Pain was what brought Tony back from the cold dark depths of unconsciousness and brought him back to reality.

There was a deep indescribable pain in his stomach. He couldn't figure out where he was or why his abdomen hurt so badly.

He was in the darkness trying to grasp onto anything so he wouldn't lose himself in it but all there was, was the darkness and pain.

So he held onto that.

He could also feel a burning sensation in his throat and lungs. Did he drown; was he still in the water?

Was he dead?

He didn't think death would hurt so much so he must not be which held very little comfort for him at the moment.

Also he must not be in the water because he was way too warm and he remembered the water being extremely cold.

He needed to find the answers to the sea of questions all swarming around his clouded brain.

He fought with all of his dwindling strength to open his eyes.

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Gibbs sensed the change in the man on the bed and awakened from the restless sleep he had been in. He looked at his agents face and could see lines of pain starting to form there.

He didn't even wait for the agent to wake up before he quickly pushed the call button. Within a few seconds of the button being pushed a young, very attractive nurse came into the room.

She looked at Gibbs for a second and offered him a small smile while she quickly checked the patient who was obviously struggling to wake up. The nurse checked some of the leads and wires going from the various bags and machines by the bed and opened the IV with what Gibbs assumed was the pain medication so that the liquid was flowing through the IV and into Tony's arm slightly faster. She took a few notes on the clipboard at the end of the bed before turning her head to speak to Gibbs.

"Everything seems alright for now. He looks like he will be waking up shortly. He seemed like he was in a bit of pain so I am giving him a little bit more morphine to make him more comfortable. He is running a slight fever, which could indicate an infection but could also be from the pneumonia. Dr. Pitt or Dr. Stone should be in here in a few minutes. If you have any questions I'm sure they can answer them all." With that she gave another small smile and quickly left the room.

Gibbs looked back down at Tony's face. His forehead had smoothed out again, but it was still obvious Tony was struggling to become conscious.

Gibbs sat back down in his chair fully intent on being the first person he saw when he woke up. There was still something very important he had to tell the man who had saved his life.

It was less then five minutes when Dr. Brad Pitt (who was not related in any way to the actor, Gibbs remembered being told) entered the room.

"We have got to stop meeting like this, Agent Gibbs." The doctor said as he walked over the bed and started reading the notes the nurse had just written.

Gibbs just nodded. It was true, Tony always seemed to be getting himself in trouble and it was usually to save someone on the team. He realized that Tony was probably the person he trusted most in the world to watch his six. He also realized he had been lacking in that area with Tony the most. He made a promise to Tony right then that he would pay closer attention to the younger man and watch his six more closely then he had been recently.

Dr. Pitt checked Tony's various IVs and tubes and checked the respirator. He also checked the bandages over Tony's abdomen and shoulder.

This was the first time Gibbs had seen Tony's injuries since they were in the ambulance and even then he was covered in so much blood he couldn't really see anything anyways.

Now he was filled with anger. Anger at whoever had done this to him. He secretly wished the person who had done this to Tony were still alive so he could kill them himself. The guilt also returned slightly but he pushed that away for now.

Once Dr. Pitt was done checking on Tony he turned to Gibbs and said, "Everything looks fine, he will wake up soon and I want to stay here until he does. He may try to fight the respirator. Also, the fever is simply from the pneumonia and isn't cause for concern unless it gets any higher, which I doubt. Once he wakes up we will know more though."

Almost immediately Tony finally managed to open his eyes. He immediately started to fight the respirator. His arm came up to pull the object out of his throat but was stopped by two strong hands.

Gibbs noticed before the doctor that Tony had woken up but before he could do anything he saw the uninjured arm with the IV come up to rip the respirator out. Gibbs himself had needed one before so he knew how uncomfortable they could be but he also knew that taking them out by yourself could damage your throat pretty bad. He reacted quickly and before any more damage could be done to Tony's body, he reached out and pinned his arm easily with his own.

Dr. Pitt quickly rushed over to get in the line of sight with his patient. Tony was looking around with glassy, pain filled green eyes. The morphine seemed to be doing little for him as his body started to reject the ventilator.

"Tony, your body is telling you it doesn't need the ventilator any more. If you're ready, I'm going to take it out now." Tony gave one quick nod of his head. 

"Ok, now take a deep breath and cough, hard, for me. Now can you do that?" He got the same response.

"One, two, three now cough." Tony did so and Dr. Pitt quickly removed the tube in one swift motion. Tony didn't stop coughing though; the coughing fit lasted several minutes while Gibbs and Dr. Pitt helped him sit up. The whole situation seemed awfully familiar to the time when Tony had the plague.

He looked up to find Dr. Pitt looking back with a concerned expression on his face. The coughing soon stopped though, and Tony was helped to lie back down.

"Tony are you in any pain?" Dr. Pitt asked. Tony nodded and put his hand over his stomach.

"You were shot, do you remember?" Tony looked up with panic in his eyes.

"Gibbs." He said in a hoarse voice. "Agent Gibbs is right here." Tony looked over at Gibbs and relief once again washed across his face. He wanted to stay awake longer but the morphine was starting to take affect and his eyelids were getting heavier and in a matter of seconds he drifted off into healing sleep.

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It's almost the end. One or two chapters left. Thanks to everyone who has read this story, I hope the next and last chapter is good. Please review! They always make me smile!


	8. Bullets and Drowning!

Since this chapter was mostly dialogue it was hard for me to write, I hope it turned out all right though. Thank you to all of you who have read, reviewed, or added this story to their favorites/alert lists. I do not own this show or these characters and I am not a doctor so the medical stuff may not be completely accurate.

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By the time Tony woke up again McGee was the only other person in the room with him. He had fallen asleep in the chair that was right next to his bed. He was obviously sleeping which was good because the kid looked exhausted, Tony though quietly to himself.

Not really wanting to disturb McGee but unable to help himself he said, "McGoo!" He intended it to be loud but it came out only half the volume it would have under any other circumstances.

It worked though; McGee practically leapt out of the uncomfortable looking chair "I didn't fall asleep, boss!" McGee pretty much yelled as he jumped from the chair. Tony started giggling slightly at the reaction from his friend.

McGee looked at Tony with a puzzled and slightly embarrassed look on his face. He recovered quickly when it finally registered in his brain what was going on.

"Tony! Your awake." McGee said excitedly. "Are you alright, should I call a doctor?"

"No, I'm fine." Tony replied after a second's hesitation. McGee didn't take that to lightly though; usually if Tony said he was fine it meant he really wasn't.

"Are you in any pain?" The younger agent asked. "And tell me the truth." He said with as much authority as he could.

"A little bit, but its fine for now." Tony told his friend not wanting to burden him or make him worry any more then he already had. The truth was he was in pain, but he really could handle it. _As long as it didn't get worse_, Tony thought.

"Well, if it gets worse let me know and I'll call in a doctor." McGee said and Tony gave him an appreciative smile.

McGee wasn't the type of person who did well when someone he was close to almost died. In fact, he had only had to deal with it a couple of times. He never knew what to say in hospitals either. They were so depressing, if you were in one it usually wasn't for a good reason. He remembered back to the day when he was only ten years old and his younger sister Sarah was born. That had been a good day at the hospital, since then hospital visits had only caused pain and worry.

While McGee was deep in thought, Tony had become increasingly tired and had started to doze. Ziva came into the room and McGee snapped back to reality when he heard the door click shut.

"How is he?" Ziva asked quietly seeing Tony asleep.

"He seems to be fine for now, at least that is what he said so it is hard for me to know for sure." McGee stated.

"I will stay with him for a little while if you want me to?" Ziva asked but her eyes told Tim everything.

McGee nodded and quietly left the room while Ziva made her way to the chair next to Tony's bed and took his large hand into her own.

Almost immediately after McGee left, Tony opened his eyes. Ziva noticed this and asked if he was all right.

"Fine." He said for what felt like the hundredth time even though in reality it had only been a couple of times.

He then noticed her holding his hand and looked at her with kindness and gratitude for the kind gesture.

She smiled back at him, and with only one look into her eyes; he realized how afraid she had been for him.

"I'm fine." He said with more reassurance. "You are very lucky to be alive.' She said and looked away sadly. "I was so afraid…" when her sentence trailed off he squeezed her hand a little bit tighter.

"I am fine." He said again. "No Tony, you are not fine. You have two serious bullet wounds and pneumonia. You could have died, you did die, and now you're telling me you are fine."

"I will be, and if I didn't do what I did, Gibbs and Maddie would be dead. I can take the bullets and drowning if I saved them and now they're not _dead_!" Throughout the short rant his voice continued to increase in volume. It was still only have of what it would have been under other circumstances but it still sent him into a painful coughing fit.

Ziva helped him sit up during the coughing fit and once it finally started to end she helped him take a sip of water from the paper cup near the bed.

After the coughing fit subsided, Tony felt completely spent. Also, all of the movement had caused his pain levels to rise considerably. Ziva noticed his face visibly pale right in front of her eyes. By this point the pain in his stomach had become almost unbearable and he squeezed his eyes closed against the pain. Ziva quickly pushed the call button near the head of the bed.

Almost immediately the same young nurse who had checked on him before came rushing into the room with a syringe, which she injected into his IV. The lines of pain on his face almost immediately disappeared and he went into a drug-induced sleep.

The nurse looked at the other women in the room and noticed the silent tears that left streaks down her cheeks.

"That should make him feel better. He should also be ok when he wakes up again and this shouldn't cause any setbacks in his recovery. Are you ok, ma'am?" She asked the tangibly distraught women.

"Yes." Ziva said quietly. The nurse gave her a quick nod and a comforting smile and left the room once again.

Ziva quietly sat back down in the chair, immediately feeling completely exhausted. She took Tony's hand in hers again and carefully, fully aware and cautious of his injuries, lay her head on his chest and soon feel asleep taking comfort from the steady thump of his heart under her ear.

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Only one more chapter left! Please, please, please review! Thanks again for reading my story, it means a lot! Also, I don't know how I feel about this chapter. I had a really hard time writing it so if you could tell me what you thought of it, even if you didn't like it, it would be very helpful to me in writing the last chapter. Thank you!


	9. Thank you, DiNozzo!

Wow, my first fan fiction story is almost over. I can't wait to write other stories after this one. Anyway, here is the last chapter, I hope you like it.

Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS and I never will.

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Tony was in the darkness again.

He remembered talking to Ziva right before he started to cough, and the overwhelming pain this had caused. The pain had burned with a bright hot fire that consumed him and reminded him a lot of actually getting shot. This concerned him greatly.

He had no idea how long this had lasted before sweet relief came. He could almost feel the pain medication cool the fire in his gut till he was numb and then came sleep.

Soon after falling into the healing sleep he now inhabited, he felt a gentle amount of pressure on his chest. Since it didn't hurt he figured it wasn't threatening or bad in anyway. It wasn't long before he realized what it was.

He didn't know if it was just in his head or if he really did, but in his heart-Tony smiled.

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When Tony finally woke up again, the pressure on his chest was gone.

At first his eyes were unfocused so he tried to refocus them on the figure he saw in the chair by his bed. Before he could clearly make out who was in fact sitting there he heard a familiar voice.

"Heard you gave Ziva a scare after I left." Gibbs, Tony thought, his eyes finally adjusting to his surroundings. Gibbs saw the puzzled look on the younger agents face before Tony himself even knew he was puzzled about something.

"Didn't want to leave but Ducky convinced me to at least get a refill," Gibbs said holding up what must have been a fresh cup of coffee, "and call Maddie." Tony heard what Gibbs said and smiled slightly. His boss had been worried about him and hadn't wanted to leave. Gibbs too realized what he had said and mentally slapped himself on the back of his head before he remembered how close he had come to losing the closest thing he had ever had to a son.

"How is Maddie?" Tony asked finally, knowing full well that Gibbs wouldn't want to dwell on his small display of his true concern.

"She'll be fine, just a little shaken up. She would have been a lot worse if it weren't for you and so would I." Gibbs said, "She's very worried about you, too." He added.

Tony was glad to hear that both Gibbs and Maddie were indeed ok. He knew he would never regret the decision he had made to run through that warehouse with no concern for his own well-being. Even though it hadn't gone exactly the way he would have preferred, everyone was alive.

Suddenly feeling very tired, he knew he wouldn't be able to stay awake very much longer. Gibbs noticed Tony's eyes start to flutter in an obvious struggle to remain awake. He needed to tell Tony something very important and he it couldn't wait any longer.

Seconds before Tony succumbed to the sleep that would heal his sick and injured body; Gibbs leaned down and whispered in his ear the same way he had when he had the plague and then again when he had been fighting for his life in the ambulance just a few short days before, but this time it sounded calm and sincere.

"Thank you, DiNozzo." Gibbs said, and those were the only words Tony needed to hear to let him know that everything was going to be all right.

The End.

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Thanks for sticking with this story until the very end. It has been almost as much fun writing this story as it has been to read all of the reviews you all have written so please keep them coming and let me know what you thought of the ending. Thanks again for reading this story!


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